Wema Bank, a key player in Nigeria’s financial sector known for its innovation, recently entered into a groundbreaking agreement with the ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development (EBID).
This significant collaboration resulted in a credit facility amounting to $50,000,000, earmarked specifically to bolster empowerment initiatives tailored for Wema Bank’s diverse clientele.
The historic signing ceremony took place on Monday, November 20, 2023, in Lome, Togo.
The allocation of the $50,000,000 Credit Facility to Wema Bank reflects EBID’s strategic commitment to impact Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) throughout the sub-region.
This approach involves fostering partnerships with banks and esteemed financial institutions that possess substantial influence within the subregion.
With this newfound financial support, Wema Bank is poised to expand its existing capacity for disbursing loans, aiming to positively influence a broader spectrum of Nigerians and business proprietors nationwide. This initiative is a pivotal step towards realizing a collective vision of empowerment.
Moruf Oseni, Wema Bank’s Managing Director/CEO, disclosed that Wema Bank’s unrelenting quest to drive impact and its mission of empowering lives through innovation, were what motivated this partnership with EBID. According to him, “Banking without impact or value is nothing, which is why we continue to find new ways to positively impact the lives of our customers and our society. Our mission is clear—to empower lives through innovation—and over the years, we have developed innovative ways to achieve it. With each solution, partnership, and initiative, we have evolved into a multifarious support system and enabler across different areas of the national ecosystem and through this partnership, more lives and businesses will be impacted nationwide.”
Shedding more light on the allocation strategy for the facility, Mr. Oseni added, “This credit facility is targeted for impact across two major areas—women and agriculture. Beyond creating women-specific solutions, we are critically acclaimed for supporting women and female businesses nationwide and now, we can take our impact to greater heights. It is a personal philosophy of mine that any society that fails to empower women is flying on one wing, so we will not leave anyone behind on this journey of positive impact. Food is another area that can make or break an economy; a country where the majority can feed comfortably has solved a chunk of its problems. With this facility, we will intensify our efforts and multiply our impact across these two sectors towards the creation of a better life for all.”
Describing the partnership as long-expected, George Agyemkum Donkor, the President and Chairman of the Board of Directors at ECOWAS, emphasized the importance of women empowerment and the need to continue providing actors in the agricultural sector with resources to enhance produce, add value to the ecosystem and increase trade returns for socio-economic growth and development. Acknowledging Wema Bank’s significant role in driving the Nigerian economy, he further highlighted the impact of the credit facility on driving the Sustainable Development Goals [SDGs]. “It also aligns with SDGs 5 and 2. SDG 2 talks about the fact that we should ensure food security in the subregions and of course the entire world, and SDG 5 talks about gender equality,” he added. Allocated to support the Agro Industry and empower women in the SME industry, this credit facility agreement succinctly and perfectly supports, promotes, and enables the achievement of these SDGs.
Wema Bank has sustained a reputable history of empowering and supporting its customers financially, digitally, and in every other significant way. Through this new partnership, EBID will help strengthen Wema Bank’s capacity to finance loans for SMEs, youth, students, corporates, and every other segment of its customers, beyond its already extensive range of impactful solutions. This groundbreaking partnership is unarguably a step in the right direction towards the continued achievement of Wema Bank’s mission of empowering lives through innovation.
